Gypsy (Roma) Culture: Customs, Traditions & Beliefs

About 11 million people worldwide, according to the New York Times, and about a million in the United States, according to Time, belong to an ethnic group known as the Roma or Romani. They are more commonly called Gypsies or travelers. 

The term Gypsy, considered to be mildly derogative, according to the Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption organization (FRUA), is a holdover from when it was thought these people came from Egypt. However, a study published in 2012 concluded that Romani populations have a high frequency of a particular Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA that are only found in populations from South Asia. It is now thought that the Roma people migrated to Europe from India about 1,500 years ago. 

Romani with their wagon, photographed in the Rheinland of Germany in 1935. | Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J0525-0500-003 / CC-BY-SA, distributed under a Creative Commons license (German Federal Archives)

Often, many groups are lumped together into the classification of "Gypsy." The Romani people can include ethnic groups who are spread out all over the world, according to Open Society Foundations. Their cultures may vary somewhat, but they have common ties. Some groups that are considered Roma are Romanichals of England, Beyash from Croatia, the Kalé of Wales and Finland, Romanlar from Turkey and Domari from Palestine and Egypt. The travelers of Ireland are not Roma, but they are considered Gypsies by many.

The Romani people faced discrimination because of their dark skin and were once enslaved by Europeans. They have been portrayed as cunning, mysterious outsiders who tell fortunes and steal before moving on to the next town. In fact, the term “gypped” is probably an abbreviation of Gypsy, meaning a sly, unscrupulous person, according to NPR.

Also, as a matter of survival, the Romani were continuously on the move. They developed a reputation for a nomadic lifestyle and a highly insular culture. Because of their outsider status and migratory nature, few attended school and literacy was not widespread. Much of what is known about the culture comes through stories told by singers and oral histories. 

"A people's culture needs to be looked at in the context of that people's development, and no culture [should] be judged to be intrinsically superior or inferior to another," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science.

In addition to Jews, homosexuals and other groups, the Roma were targeted by the Nazi regime in World War II. The German word for Gypsy, "Zigeuner," was derived from a Greek root that meant "untouchable" and accordingly, the group was deemed "racially inferior." 

Romani were rounded up and sent to camps to be used as labor or to be killed. During this time, Dr. Josef Mengele was also given permission to experiment with on twins and dwarves from the Roma community. 

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Nazis killed tens of thousands of Roma in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union and Serbia. Thousands more Roma were killed in the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno, and Treblinka. 

There were also Gypsy camps called Zigeunerlager that were intended just for the Roma population. These camps were long-term holding areas where hundreds of Roma died. 

It is estimated that up to 220,000 Roma died in the Holocaust.

Roma culture

For centuries, stereotypes and prejudices have had a negative impact on the understanding of Roma culture, according to the Romani Project. Also, because the Roma people live scattered among other populations in many different regions, their ethnic culture has been influenced by interaction with the culture of their surrounding population. Nevertheless, there are some unique and special aspects to Romani culture. 

Spiritual beliefs

The Roma do not have an official faith, and in the past they typically disdained organized religion. Today, they often adopt the predominant religion of the country where they are living, according to FRUA, and describe themselves as "many stars scattered in the sight of God." Some Roma groups are Catholic, Muslim, Pentecostal, Protestant, Anglican or Baptist, according to Open Society Foundations. 

The Roma live by a complex set of rules that govern things such as cleanliness, purity, respect, honor and justice. These rules are referred to as what is "Rromano." Rromano means to behave with dignity and respect as a Roma person, according to FRUA. "Rromanipé" is what the Romani refer to as their worldview.

Language

Though the groups of Roma are varied, they all do speak one language. This language is called Rromanës, or the Romani language. Rromanës is related to a northern Indian dialect, called Punjab, and is spoken by about 5 to 6 million Roma people throughout Europe and the United States, according to FRUA.

Roma mom and kids. | Credit: Dinos Michail/Shutterstock

Dress

Typically, Gypsies love opulence. Roma women often wear gold jewelry and headdresses decorated with coins as a display of prosperity and generosity towards others, according to the FRUA. 

Weddings are huge affairs with large, custom-made wedding dresses. Often, the girls in a group will compete to see who can have the largest, most extravagant wedding dress. Some of this has been documented in the American show "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding."

Hierarchy

Traditionally, anywhere from 10 to several hundred extended families form bands, or kumpanias, which travel together in caravans. Each band is led by a voivode, whom the families elect for lifetime. This person is their chieftain. A senior woman in the band, called a phuri dai, looks after the welfare of the group's women and children.

Smaller alliances, called vitsas, are formed within the bands and are made up of families who are brought together through common ancestry.

Family structure

The Roma place great value on extended families, according to FRUA. Families typically involve multiple generations living together, including unmarried young and adult children and a married son, his wife and their children. By the time an older son is ready to establish his own household, a younger son often will have married and brought his wife and children into the family.

Romani typically marry young — often in their teens — and many marriages are arranged. Weddings are typically very elaborate, involving very large and colorful dress for the bride and her many attendants. Though during the courtship phase, girls are encouraged to dress provocatively, sex is something that is not had until after marriage, according to The Learning Channel. Some groups have declared that no girl under 16 and no boy under 17 will be married, according to the BBC.

Romani professions

The Roma have a long history of training, trading and caring for animals. They also have worked as metal smiths, and repaired utensils and sold household goods they made themselves, according to FRUA. Many worked as traveling entertainers, using their rich musical background to earn money.

This map shows the migration of Roma people from northwest India to Europe. | Credit: PNAS

The Roma today

While there are still nomadic Roma, most use cars and RVs to move from place to place rather than the horses and wagons of the past.

Today, most have settled into houses and apartments and are not readily distinguishable. Because of continued discrimination, many do not publicly acknowledge their roots and only reveal themselves to other Romani.

While there is not a physical country affiliated with the Romani people, the International Romani Union was officially established in 1977. In 2000, The 5th World Romany Congress in 2000 officially declared Romani a non-territorial nation.

April 8 is International Day of the Roma, a day to raise awareness of the issues facing the Roma community and celebrate the Romani culture.

Additional reporting by Alina Bradford, Live Science contributor.
SOURCE: Livescience

11 Facts About the Rock-Cut Ajanta Caves That Will Make Your Jaw Drop

The Ajanta Caves—over 30 rock-cut ancient cave monuments located in India believed to date from the 2nd century BCE—constitute ancient monasteries and worship halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 250 feet wall of rock.

Located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in India are over 30 rock-cut ancient cave monuments which are believed to date from the 2nd century BCE.

The magnificent caves include paintings and rock cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotion through gesture, pose and form, constituting ancient monasteries and worship halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 250 feet wall of rock.

As many other great discoveries, the caves were discovered by chance.

The ancient caves remained isolated from the world, covered in deep jungles. In 1819, when an officer with the Madras Regiment of the British Army John Smith was in pursuit of a tiger across the jungle just outside of Mumbai he made the discovery.  While tracking the tiger, he stumbled upon a mysterious cave with a hidden entrance in the brush. What was believed to be just one cave, turned out to be over 30 massive caves carved into the bedrock in the distant past, beautifully decorated by mysterious builders. (Source: Richard Cohen (2006). Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity. Routledge. pp. 77–78.)

There are several authors who argue that the builders weren’t that mysterious at all. It is believed that Buddhist monks who spent a significant amount of time at the Ajanta caves during the monsoons as they were forbidden from traveling during that particular period of the year put their creativity and time to use and painted the walls of the caves creating ancient masterpieces. The Ajanta Caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct periods, the first belonging to the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, and the second period that followed several centuries later. (Source)

Photo: Flickr

The Ajanta caves not only offer incredible paintings and sculptures, the ancient built huge Buddhist mounds like stupas built, massive pillars with intricately detailed carvings on the ceilings and walls.

Each of the Ajanta caves is unique and has an intricate and beautiful design covering its interior and entrances. The caves were excavated and decorated with extreme detail making them one of the most unique rock-cut caves on Earth.

SOURCE: Ancient-code

The Sayhuite Stone—a Massive Boulder with over 200 Geometric and Zoomorphic Figures

The Sayhuite Stone is a massive stone that features around 200 Geometric and zoomorphic figures carved on its surface. Its exact purpose remains a mystery and experts are not sure who created it.

Located at the Sayhuite archaeological site in Peru—around 3 hours away from the city of Cusco—we find one of the most mysterious boulders in Peru.

According to experts, this archaeological site was a sanctuary related to the cult of water, where a temple existed that legends describe as being covered with gold sheets of the thickness of a hand, and while many archaeological remains have been found there, the strangest one of all is the Sayhuite stone—a massive rock covered with more than 200 geometric and zoomorphic figures.

When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Sayhuite—according to John Hemming in his book Monuments of the Incas—the temple was ruled by the priestess Asarpay who, before being captured, threw herself from the top of a 400-meter high waterfall.

The remains of the temple show no traces of the gold, but the entire archaeological site is covered with massive andesite blocks and stairways that offer a small glimpse into the past as if they belonged to a much larger construction that existed there at one point.

But let’s get back to the Sayhuite stone.

The most mysterious blocks on the site is without a doubt the Sayhuite Stone—a huge monolith on which the ancients carved hundreds of geometric and zoomorphic reliefs, such as reptiles, frogs, and felines. The stone is about two meters long and four meters wide.

It was found at the top of the Concacha hill, and experts believe it was used as some sort of topographic model for hydraulics. Carved on the stone you can clearly distinguish terraces, ponds, rivers, tunnels and irrigation canals.

While the exact function of the Sayhuite stone remain a mystery, researcher Dr. Arlan Andrews believes that this monolith was used as a scale model to design, develop, test, and document the properties of water flow for public water projects, and to instruct ancient engineers and technicians in the concepts and practices of the craft.

Experts believe that the stone has been remodeled several times, and the ancients added and removed several elements, changing the water flow.

While there are several theories that describe its function, many experts agree that the massive stone most likely had a religious use, perhaps a symbolic representation of the universe, and or related to the cult of water.

Whoever created the massive stone is another massive mystery. Although it is known for sure that the place was an Inca sanctuary, archaeologists are not sure that the ancient Inca were the constructors.

It has been speculated that it could also be a representation of the irrigation system used by the Incas and even a scale model of their entire empire with each of the regions represented with certain symbols.

The jungles would be represented by the presence of animals like monkeys, iguanas or jaguars, whereas the coast is symbolized with animals like octopuses.

While the Sayhuite stone remains shrouded in mystery, it provides archaeologists with insight into the culture of the pre-Columbian population. Archaeologists have determined that the site was an Incan religious center, where rituals and ceremonies for the worship of water was conducted. The monolith is an important clue to this since it depicts a water-like flow between the carvings.

Image Credit: blog.rainbowasi.com
SOURCE: Ancient-code

An Asteroid Wiped out a Civilization like Ours 13,000 Years Ago—and It Could Happen Again in 2030

An asteroid wiped out a civilization like ours 13,000 years ago—and it could happen again in 2030

An extremely advanced ancient civilization—that flourished during the Ice Age—was wiped out from the surface of the planet some 13,000 years ago due to a massive comet strike, and the ancients left us a warning of future events.

As best-selling author and researcher Graham Hancock explains it in his book—Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth’s Lost Civilization: Near the end of the last Ice Age 12,800 years ago, a giant comet that had entered the solar system from deep space thousands of years earlier, broke into multiple fragments. Some of these struck the Earth causing a global cataclysm on a scale unseen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. At least eight of the fragments hit the North American ice cap, while further fragments hit the northern European ice cap.

The impacts, from comet fragments a mile wide approaching at more than 60,000 miles an hour, generated huge amounts of heat which instantly liquidized millions of square kilometers of ice, destabilizing the Earth’s crust and causing the global Deluge that is remembered in myths all around the world.

For years claims made by author Graham Hancock were ignored by scholars, who argues that its impossible that advanced civilization inhabited Earth tens of thousands of years ago.

Mr. Hancock argues that nearly 13,000 years ago, a giant comet that had entered our solar system from deep space broke into multiple fragments as it approached the sun. On his path towards our star, the comet broke into multiple fragments, some of them striking Earth, and eventually giving rise to a global cataclysm on a scale unseen since the extinction of the dinosaurs causing the global Deluge that is remembered in myths all around the world.

Considered by many as a fantasist, and by many others as a deluded author, most of his work was not taken into account by ‘experts’ who refused to take into consideration anything other than what they believed firmly true—a timeline of Earths history shattered into pieces by those same experts who were unable to fully explain the numerous historical enigmas that cast shadow on our origins.

But all of a sudden—when experts from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering released a scientific paper—the words written by Hancock rose from the shadows cast down by mainstream scholars, and into the spotlight where ‘experts’ realized that Hancock’s theories were not as ludicrous as many of them thought before.

According to scientists, intricate stone carvings found at Göbekli Tepe—the oldest temple on Earth—are evidence that a comet impacted Earth around 11,000BC, giving rise to cataclysmic events that wiped out civilization on Earth.

Measurements place the oldest stratum at Göbekli Tepe to around 9600 BC. It is, therefore, 6,500 years older than Stonehenge and 7000 years older than the oldest of the Pyramids.


As Hancock explains it, there is evidence all over the world speaking of such massive impact. This blazing space rock plunged into our planet striking Earth’s crust with the force of several thousand nuclear bombs exploding simultaneously. This cataclysmic event wiped our several larger animal species and nearly destroyed mankind.

However—as Hancock explains it—some did survive, like the Ojibwa tribe of the Canadian grasslands who speak of the Long-Tailed Heavenly Climbing Star which swept out of the sky to scorch the earth.

After the impact, everything changed on our planet.

Interestingly, this is what Edinburgh’s Dr. Martin Sweatman found while looking at some of the stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, in modern-day Turkey. “One of the pillars at Göbekli Tepe seems to have served as a memorial to this devastating event—probably the worst day in history since the end of the Ice Age.”

The intricate carvings found at Göbekli Tepe depict a headless man, a graphic symbol of human carnage.

The so-called Vulture stone at Göbekli Tepe illustrates interesting symbols that tell an incredible story.

Experts studied animal carvings made on the vulture stone and found that the animals are in fact astronomical symbols. With the help of sophisticated computer software, scientists matched the symbols to patterns in the sky, finding that they related to an event that occurred around 10,950 BC. As scientists explain, the symbols carved on the stone pillars relate to a cosmic event which is believed to have been the break-up of a massive comet from the inner solar system, precisely during the period known as the Younger Dryas. This period is considered as a crucial stage for humanity since it coincides with the appearance of agriculture and the first Neolithic civilizations.

But how on Earth is it possible that the builders of Göbekli Tepe—over ten thousand years ago—carved intricate astronomical symbols onto stone pillars? According to experts, at that time humans were ‘savages’, hunter-gatherers no more advanced than cavemen, without any knowledge of engineering or mathematics. Clearly, there’s something OFF with history.

Hancock notes that the stone slabs at Göbekli Tepe not only describe an ancient cosmic collision but predict another one that is yet to come. Hancock argues that the ancient impact—recorded on the Vulture stone at Göbekli Tepe—were in fact massive debris of the Taurid meteor stream, a belt containing millions of space rocks.

Astronomers believe that the inside of that belt lies a massive planetoid, a superheated rock—something like a massive cosmic hand grenade. Many of the debris hidden inside the belt could be up to three or four times the size of the one that impacted Earth 65 million years ago driving the dinosaurs to extinction. Hancock notes that we are due to cross the Taurid meteor stream in 13 years, around 2030.

SOURCE: Ancient-code

Meet the Enigmatic ‘Pre-Flood’ Pyramids Beneath Lake Fuxian in China

At the bottom of Lake Fuxian—rising 1,720 meters above sea level and encompassing an area of 212 square kilometers—experts discovered the remains of a massive city, and several pyramids-shaped structures believed to be the remains of an advanced ancient pre-flood civilization.

Pyramids are a global phenomenon. For thousands of years, ancient cultures around the globe decided to erect Pyramids as if all of them followed an intricate blueprint from the past. Not a single expert today can answer why the ancients built Pyramids, and why so many of them are eerily similar despite the fact that mainstream scholars argue—the most distant civilizations around the globe were not connected.

China is known for a lot of things, but a few know that many experts consider this part of the world to be home to the largest pyramid on the surface of the planet. During the end of World War II, American pilot James Gaussman prepared to complete a mission of providing food and supplies to the Chinese military forces. Suddenly, a fault in the aircraft engine forced his return to the Assan airbase in northern India, for safety, he performed his return journey at low altitude which made it possible to observe the incredible land below him. Shortly after flying over the city of Xi’an, heading southwest, the pilot encountered the presence of a giant pyramidal shape on the surface. Surprised, after making several passes over the structure, Gussman prepared to and took several photographs of the pyramid; he also created a detailed report, which he later handed to his superiors upon returning to base.

But that’s just one reference to ONE of the many mystifying pyramids in China.

The truth is there are many more Pyramids scattered across the region.

If we travel Lake Fuxian, located in the Yunnan Province, China we will discover the remains of MASSIVE structures at the bottom of the lake. At the bottom of this poorly explored Lake—which stretches through Chengjiang County, Jiangchuan County and Huaning County in Yunnan Province, rising 1,720 meters above sea level and encompassing an area of 212 square kilometers—are structures that have mystified experts ever since their discovery.

The enigmatic monuments were discovered in 1992 when expert diver Geng Wei came across hand carved flagstones and countless other stone relics scattered across the bottom of the second deepest freshwater lake in China. Geng Wei was left mystified by what many believe are the remains of a lost ancient city.

So when were these enigmatic structures built? The answer is sort of simple: before the last Ice Age—when water levels around the planet were much lower than today.


Is it possible that the ancient structure located beneath Lake Fuxian are the remnants of an ancient culture that flourished before Earth’s last Ice Age? And is it possible—as author and researcher Graham Hancock argues—it was around 13,000 years ago when a cataclysmic event wiped out advanced civilizations from the surface of the planet?

After over thirty dives and aid from submarines, experts discovered the remains of massive stone slabs, stairs, and walled structures. However, that was not enough to understand what exactly was located at the bottom of the lake.

Then, in 2001, archaeologists from the Hunan Provincial Museum used advanced sonar equipment and cameras to survey the bottom of the lake for the first time ever.

The results convinced experts in the field that the remains at the bottom of the lake once belonged to an extremely complex and advanced ancient culture that inhabited the region in the distant past, capable of building massive structure and more importantly, PYRAMIDS.

One of the submerged pyramids at the bottom of Lake Fuxian has a circular shape and has a base of around 37 meters, while the other two, of greater height, are connected to each other by a corridor of stone of 300 meters of length.

Researchers gathered enough data to convince them that the mysterious underwater structures covered an area of more than 1.5 square kilometers

What if the structure at the bottom of the lake are evidence that before the Great Flood—before the last Ice Age—an extremely advanced ancient culture inhabited the area? If so, who were they and what happened to them after the great flood?

Looking back at historical records we will find evidence that an ancient city called Yuyuan was established in the region were Lake Fuxian is located today.

Historical records show that the city ceased to exist after the Sui and Tang Dynasty (589-907AD). Curiously, according to local legends and folklore, the ancient city of Yuyuan and its people sank to the bottom of the lake. So, did experts find the remains of the ancient city of Yuyuan? The answer is no.

Why? Because after several studies, experts concluded that the sunken city Yuyuan or the capital of the ancient Dian Kingdom was in fact constructed mostly out of wooden and clay materials. The remains at the bottom of the lake are mostly made of stone.

As noted by the Epoch times, the pyramids at the bottom of the lake are far more advanced than other similar pyramids around the globe— as the stones are ornamented with various designs and symbols. Experts are said to have found curious shapes engraved on the stone structures at the bottom of the lake. Amongst the many engraved stones, one of them has attracted particular attention. On the top right of the slab, experts found a small carved circle with seven radial lines, a symbol that according to many experts is meant to depict the Sun. On the left side of the stone, there are more symbols; another circle with four radial lines.

SOURCE: Ancient-code

The Fossil of a Half-Billion-Year-Old, 50-Legged Arthropod Was Found in Canada

The 4-inch-long creature, named Tokummia katalepsis, was discovered in sedimentary rock in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia.

A 508-million-year-old critter — one that looks like a weird lobster with 50 legs, two claws and a tent-like shell — is the oldest known arthropod with mandibles on record, a new study finds.

Arthropods are a group of invertebrates that includes spiders, insects and crustaceans. Many arthropods, including flies, ants, crayfish and centipedes, have mandibles — appendages that can grasp, crush and cut food. But until now, it wasn't clear when this unique feature evolved.

Now, researchers can say that mandibles developed by at least the late Cambrian (the Cambrian period, known for its famous explosion of new, diverse life, lasted from about 543 million to 490 million years ago).

Researchers discovered the first of the 21 fossil specimens in sedimentary rock in Kootenay National Park, in British Columbia, Canada, in 2012. They named the roughly 4-inch-long (10 centimeters) creature Tokummia katalepsis, honoring Tokumm Creek, which runs along the northern part of the park through Marble Canyon, where they found the fossils. The species name, katalepsis, is derived from the Greek word for "seizing."

Like other Cambrian animals, T. katalepsis looks bizarre by today's standards. The predator had 50 paddle-like legs that likely helped it swim and walk in a tropical sea, and "a pair of very strong claws — some of the strongest claws we have seen in any Cambrian arthropod," said study co-author Jean-Bernard Caron, a senior curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. These claws likely helped the animal grasp and pierce soft-bodied prey, such as worms, he said.

The critter also had a bivalve (two-halved) shell and two tiny eyes at the base of its antennae. But T. katalepsis' most famous features are its serrated mandibles, Caron said.

Mandible evolution

The group mandibulata (animals with mandibles) is the most diverse and abundant group of arthropods on the planet. The group includes the myriapods (millipedes, centipedes and their relatives), the pancrustaceans (including shrimps, lobsters and barnacles) and insects, said study lead researcher Cédric Aria, who did the research while a doctoral student of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto. Aria is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Nanjing Institute for Geology and Paleontology in Nanjing, China.

Initially, some researchers thought these bivalved species were among the earliest ancestral arthropods, Aria said. But the new analysis shows that instead of being at the base of the arthropod family tree, T. katalepsis evolved later on, after the chelicerata (spiders and mites) split off into their own branch.

"Quite simply, Tokummia (and its relatives) fits at the base of all mandibulates," Aria told Live Science in an email.

Cédric Aria cutting into the fossiliferous beds at Marble Canyon quarry at Kootenay National Park during the summer 2014 fieldwork season. | Jean-Bernard Caron/Royal Ontario Museum

In addition, an analysis of T. katalepsis' anatomy revealed what other characteristics made mandibulates so successful. For instance, its more than 50 body segments were an important adaptation for mandibulates, "as it allowed for the development of additional segments and structures at and around the base of the limb, called 'coxae,' and from which the mandibles themselves likely [arose]," Aria said.

The new finding is only the latest fossil discovery from Marble Canyon. Other Cambrian fossil discoveries there include an ancient fish known as Metaspriggina and a four-eyed arthropod called Yawunik.

Outside perspective

The finding is a potential novel perspective on the evolution of arthropods, said Jakob Vinther, a paleobiologist at the University of Bristol in England, who was not involved with the study. However, he cautioned that because the fossils are flattened, they might be difficult to decipher.

"Finding mandibles is a key finding for understanding the evolution of myriapods, crustaceans and insects," Vinther said. "I hope that the observations can be validated by other researchers also in the near future."

However, another paleobiologist, Peter Van Roy at Ghent University in Belgium, who was also not involved with the study, called the study and interpretation of the material "well-supported from what I can see."

Van Roy added that "these fossils elucidate the early evolution of this very important clade [group], which so far was poorly understood, and underscore the importance of exceptionally preserved fossils for resolving phylogenetic [family tree] questions in deep time."

The study was published online today (April 26) in the journal Nature.

SOURCE: Seeker

To Unlock the Secrets of Prehistoric Hand Paintings, Experts Catalog Them in 3D

Archaeologists have been going from cave to cave, taking scans and high-resolution photos of all of Europe’s prehistoric painted hands.

It’s dark and surprisingly warm in a cave in western Spain that hides our most intimate connection to the prehistoric past — hand silhouettes painted tens of thousands of years ago.

A hand painting from Maltravieso Cave in Cáceres, Spain. | Handpas

Archaeologist Hipolito Collado and his team had not entered the Maltravieso Cave in the city of Caceres for close to a year to avoid damaging the 57 faded hands that adorn the walls, precious remnants of a far-flung piece of history we know little about.

Why did our ancestors or distant relatives paint hands in caves? Was it merely to make their mark, or part of a ritual to commune with spirits?

Do they tell us anything about the role of women during the Paleolithic era that ended some 10,000 years ago? And why are some fingers missing?

In a bid to unlock some of these mysteries, Collado, head of archaeology for the government of the Extremadura region where Caceres is located, has set out to catalog all of Europe’s prehistoric painted hands.

Crouching under low hanging rocks or abseiling down crags, he and other archaeologists have been going from cave to cave, taking scans and high-resolution photos of all the hands they encounter.

They then post them in detailed, 3D format in a free-to-use online database, as part of an EU-funded project called Handpas.

The entrance to Maltravieso Cave. | Mario Modesto

The idea is for researchers anywhere in the world to be able to examine them all in one place without having to visit every cave or gain access to those closed for conservation, in the hope of producing a breakthrough.

“It’s about making inaccessible art accessible,” said Collado, as he checks sensors for any change in CO2 levels, temperature or humidity since he last visited the meandering, cramped cave.

Surrounded by high rises in what was a poor neighborhood of Caceres, the cave was discovered in 1951 in a quarry but left neglected for decades, squatted by thrill-seekers, junkies and others until authorities put up a wrought-iron gate barring the entrance in the mid-1980s.

According to Collado, a Spaniard who is also head of the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations, painted hands have been found in 36 caves in Europe — all in France, Spain and Italy. Some also contain animal drawings and fossils but his project focuses only on hands.

Further afield, hands have also been discovered in South America, Australia and Indonesia, where recent research revealed that a hand silhouette in a cave on Sulawesi island was 40,000 years old — the world’s oldest.

That was around the time when Homo sapiens — the first modern humans — arrived in Europe after having emerged in Africa and lived in parts of Asia.
Theories abound about what the hands mean, but with no written records, much of it is conjecture.

Researchers have tried to determine whether they were male or female, and why in some cases fingers are missing.

Was this a ritual? Did they lose them in freezing cold weather? Or — as is more commonly believed — did they simply fold some fingers over when painting in some sort of sign language?

What if scientists were able to determine for certain that all hands in one area were done by women?

“It could mean a matriarchal society,” said Collado’s colleague Jose Ramon Bello Rodrigo.

And did Homo sapiens — or possibly Neanderthals before them — merely wander into a cave and casually leave their hand imprint as a form of ancient “I was here”?
Paul Pettitt, professor of Paleolithic Archaeology at Britain’s Durham University, doesn’t think so.

His research focuses on where people placed their hands and he found that in some cases, fingers appeared to be deliberately placed over a bump in the wall like they were “gripping” it.

Many hands are also in the deeper recesses of the caves.

“It must have been very frightening, it must have been quite a degree of exertion, a lot of climbing in the darkness,” said Pettitt. “You don’t do that for fun.”
Why then would people go to such lengths to paint hands onto the walls — be it via stencils, created by spraying pigment around an open hand, or actual handprints applied to the rock face?

French prehistorian Jean Clottes believes it may have been a form of shamanism.

“It’s likely that putting paint — what we could call sacred paint — on the rock face introduces a link between the person who does it and the rock face, and therefore with the forces in the rock face,” he said.

Collado also interprets some of the hands he has seen as warnings.

“In the La Garma Cave [in northern Spain] there is a panel with hands that is next to a big well that would be deadly,” he said. “These were definitely done to say ‘stop’.”

Work on documenting painted hands in two Italian caves has also begun.

But the project has come up against a major stumbling block as Collado’s team has yet to get the green light to access the French caves — 18 months after sending their first letter to the culture ministry.

“We’re on standby,” he concludes impatiently.

SOURCE: Seeker

Heat Anomalies Discovered Inside Egypt's Ancient Pyramids

Thermal scanning of the Giza pyramids in Egypt that has been going on for two weeks has revealed anomalies in the burial structures, which are 4,500 years old said the Antiquities Ministry.

MUCH HIGHER TEMPERATURES FOUND IN THREE STONES AT BOTTOM OF PYRAMID

Mamdouh El-Damaty working alongside technical experts found that higher temperatures have been detected in three stones specifically which are adjacent, at the bottom of the pyramid. This was revealed in a presentation of a live thermal camera and presented to journalists.

The scan revealed an impressive and notable anomaly on the Khufu pyramids Eastern side at ground level said the ministry. The biggest out of the three Giza pyramids has been given the name of Khufu, but internationally it is known as Cheops.

WHAT MIGHT BE BEHIND THE HEAT ANOMALIES?

The thermal scanning continued throughout the course of the day, this included during sunrise when the sun heated the structures from the outside, and at sunset when the pyramid was cooling down. The speed of the phases between heating and cooling have been used to determine hypotheses that include empty regions in the pyramids along with the air currents internally or different building materials having been used.

El-Damaty said that the first rows of the stones of the pyramid were all uniform, and then they found there was a difference in the formation, pointing out the three stones that had showed temperatures that were higher. He went on to say that when they were making an inspection of the area, they had come across something that seemed to be a small passage in the ground leading to the pyramids ground and reaching a region that has a different temperature. But the big question is what is behind it?

UPPER HALF OF PYRAMID HAS EVEN MORE ANOMALIES

More heat anomalies had been found in the pyramids upper half, and experts say that these need to be further investigated. All Egyptologists have been invited to the pyramid by El-Damaty; those who are interested in an ancient Egyptian architecture are more than welcome to join the research and try to come up with ideas about what may be behind the heat anomalies. 

The Giza pyramids are found on the outskirts of Cairo, and they are one of the biggest tourist attractions. They were used as sacred burial structures and had been dated back to the fourth Pharaonic dynasty. The great pyramid is the oldest of the pyramids, and this is the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

SOURCE: DiscloseTV